This month marks the 50th anniversary of Moore’s Law, an observation made by Intel co-founder Gordon Moore in 1965 that computing would increase in power and decrease in cost at an exponential rate. Technically, Moore’s Law is about shrinking transistors and adding more of them to integrated circuits. “The more transistors you can get onto a chip, the more that chip can do,” explains Steve Brown, Intel’s futurist.

So where will Moore’s Law take computing next? “Being able to put computing into every object in our lives. Being able to make objects that are smart and connected and allowing you to change the nature of those objects to make them more useful for you,” says Brown. Brown gives the example of a smart teddy bear that can read a book to a child or a toothbrush that can check to make sure children are brushing their teeth correctly. “You can start to till computers into soil and measure from a farmer’s perspective where to water. If you’re in drought conditions like in California right now, that’s a big deal,” he says.

One of the biggest breakthroughs that will happen in the next 10 years will be a computer that can really see and understand the world around them, says Brown. “That’s what will really enable robots to be successful and escape the pages of science fiction and be amongst us.” This will also enable driverless cars, he says.

We’ll also have computers “in, on and going through,” our bodies in the next ten to fifteen years. “It’s worth doing if it helps monitor health and health conditions,” he says. “You think about pacemakers and insulin pumps that have been around for decades, the next logical step is there will be implantable computers that will help you monitor health conditions,” says Brown. He points to work already going on with computers monitoring nervous systems and sending electrical impulses to help control conditions like chronic pain.

Safer Internet Day is Every February 10, the occasion is meant to be a reminder — particularly to young people — of the perils of the Internet.

The hope is to encourage more responsibility when we use the Internet and mobile technology. That can mean a lot of things and can be as simple as being more respectful online.

But it’s also a reminder to better protect yourself and your personal information. Google, for example, is using the day to remind people about the importance of online security. Coincidentally, the U.S. government happened to announce a new government agency completely dedicated to combating cyberthreats on Tuesday.

Of course, it’s always a good time to remind people that it’s easier and perhaps more common than ever before to fall victim to online attackers and cybersecurity risks. Every person should be taking measures to stay safer online. Before your eyes glaze, we have some very easy things that anyone can do to protect themselves online.

1. Use two-factor authentication

With two-factor authentication, users have to provide, in addition to a typical password, a one-time code when using a log-in service. In most cases, the code is sent to your phone — in a text message, for example. So after entering your password, you then have to put in what’s basically a one-time second password.

Based on your preferences, two-factor authentication can occur every time you log in to something or only occasionally, like when logging into an account on a new device.

Many major websites offer two-factor confirmations. Google was among the first. But now a bevy of them — including Apple’s iCloud, Dropbox, Microsoft, Twitter and Facebook — offer some form of login approval.

It might seem simple, but just a smidgen of time can almost double password security.

2. Update your browser and devices!

Browsers, operating systems and mobile devices often need updates. Sure, this can be a pain, but it’s important. Many times, updates are intended to patch just-now-discovered security problems.

Researchers are constantly finding new security holes that cyberattackers can exploit. So if an update notice comes through, never hesitate. It could be the difference between losing 15 minutes of your time and a hacker gaining control of your computer.

3. Use unique passwords and a password manager
People are really bad at making strong passwords. In 2014, the most common leaked passwords were “123456” and “password.” It’s also typical for people to include their birth year (especially those born between 1989 and 1992) in their passwords.

Hackers are up to your tricks. For each login, each website, each service, you should be using unique passwords that have nothing to do with a dead pet or your birthday. “But how do I remember all these passwords?” you might be asking. Well, you don’t have to.

There are a number of good password management services, such as LastPass or 1Password, that can generate and store login information in a virtual vault. Some even offer security-checking features that will let you know if you have duplicate or weak passwords.

4. Get a Google security checkup
Google is offering Drive users an extra 2GB of storage space if they take part in its Security Checkup program by Feb. 17. It takes a few minutes to run some quick tests on your Google accounts. To get started, click here.

The feature offers an overview of your recent sign-in activity (to see if any unusual devices are logging into your accounts). With the checkup, users can also grant and revoke account permissions on their devices, as well as add recovery information — such as a phone number — to help Google get in touch if something is up with your accounts.

5. Use HTTPS whenever you can
HTTPS is the secure version of hypertext transfer protocol — the letters that come before the “www.” in a web address. That last “S” can provide a big difference, however. HTTPS works to bidirectionally encrypt information sent between you and a website’s servers.

It isn’t perfect. HTTPS will not protect you from, say, government surveillance, but it can be surprisingly sophisticated in its protections. BMW, for example, failed to use HTTPS when transmitting data via its ConnectedDrive car system. That made the car vulnerable to remote hackers, who could have exploited that oversight to open car doors.

Most major websites are compatible with HTTPS, but it is best to be cognizant of the web addresses you’re using. There are tools, too, such as HTTPS Everywhere browser extension, that works to automatically switch any HTTP address over to HTTPS.

I’m beginning to realize just how important energy is to me in so many ways. To run my devices, cars, microwave, refrigerator, myself and most importantly in Florida, where I live, an air conditioner.

Milliamp Hour (mAh)t Milliamps Hour (mAh) is important because it’s the easiest way to distinguish the strength or capacity of a battery. The higher the mAh, the longer the battery will last. Batteries with different mAh ratings are interchangeable. If your battery is rechargeable then the mAh rating is how long the battery will last per charge.

Milliamps Hour is 1/1000th of an Amp Hour, so a 1000mAh = 1.0Ah

Think of a car’s gas tank. Voltage is how much gas is being used, and mAh is the size of the gas tank. The bigger the gas tank (mAh) rating the longer the device will run. If your battery is rechargeable, then think of the gas tank as refillable (rechargeable).

These harmful programs are one of my biggest pet peeves. I try not to feed them, but they still show up occasionally. Once they have attached them selves to a computer, they are frustratingly difficult to get rid of.

By Rex Santus

Google has added a new warning to Chrome that pops up before users visit a site that will encourage downloads of unwanted software, the search engine announced on Monday.

The red warning, pictured above, lets readers know that the site they’re about to visit “might attempt to trick you into installing programs that harm your browsing experience” by, for example, switching your homepage or injecting extra ads on your screen. Chrome already has a warning that pops up once a software download is initiated.

In addition, Google’s search engine has added a framework that better helps Google pick up on deceptive sites, reducing the likelihood that they will show up in search results.

Google has always touted cybersecurity as a top priority. Recently, Google has begun disabling ads that could lead to websites that encourage unwanted software downloads. The company has got itself into hot water with other major tech companies for revealing problems in non-Google software, like a Windows security hole.

This is a repost of a fascinating article ByAlexandra OssolaPosted April 20, 2015. This is also one of two articles I found in less than an hour mentioning a 3D printer. I think we humans are on to something here!

Our eyes are such elegant, complex, specialized organs that their existence seems almost hard to believe–Darwin himself called their evolution “absurd.” But that doesn’t mean they’re perfect; eyes sometimes don’t focus correctly, they break down over time, and they can be extremely painful if infected, irritated, or exposed to light that’s too bright. Italian design firm MHOX has an ambitious idea: to improve human eyes by making synthetic replacements.

“Developments in bioprinting and biohacking let us imagine that in the near future it would be possible to easily print organic, functional body parts, allowing the human to replace defected districts or enhance standard performance,” lead designer Filippo Nassetti told Dezeen.

The concept, called Enhance Your Eye (EYE, of course), would entail a 3D bioprinter, which uses a needle to drop different types of cells into the appropriate alignment and structure. Bioprinters can already make organs such as ears, blood vessels, and kidneys, but eyes remain elusive because of their complexity.

The way Nassetti envisions it, users could choose between three different types of synthetic EYEs: Heal, Enhance, and Advance. The first is a synthetic eye that basically works just like a natural one and could serve as a replacement for people with diseases or traumas that would otherwise be blind. EYE Enhance seeks to improve the eye’s natural functions by improving vision to 15/20 and enabling filters on vision like those on photo apps (such as vintage, black and white). To turn on or change the filter, a user can take a pill. The third type, Advance, has additional glands to capture or record what a person is seeing, as well as a Wi-Fi connection to share those images.

In order to use an EYE system, people would need to get their natural eyes surgically removed and replaced with the Deck, a sort of artificial retina that connects to the brain and would allow users to plug in different eyeballs at will.

The designers behind EYE predict that the product will be on the market in early 2027, but they haven’t released any information about what the Deck looks like or how the system actually looks in a person. (It’s one thing if it looks natural, it’s quite another if the Deck sticks out and makes people look like mutant cyborgs.) And though 3D bioprinting is advancing quickly, making an eye might prove more challenging than anticipated. As exciting as EYE seems to be, it’s important to note that there may be a number of hurdles that come up in the interim years that make the system less desirable–or even impossible–to use.

Written by Alex is a science writer based in New York City. She has contributed to The Atlantic, Motherboard, Audubon Magazine, The Verge, and Fast Company. When she’s not geeking out, Alex likes to travel, hike, do yoga, and (try to) cook new foods.

Did your site pass? YAY! Pass GO and collect $200 from the Community Chest. (For those who didn’t grow up in the United States, This is a joke!)

2. What can I do if my site is not mobile-friendly?

If your site failed Google’s test, you might be using an older theme that’s not responsive. Responsive themes change their layout slightly when someone visits via tablet or mobile phone to ensure that important content like the site title, post titles, and post content can be read on smaller screens.

Goran is one example of a responsive theme. Here’s a sample of what it looks like on desktop computers, tablets, and smartphones:

Goran’s layout changes slightly to make sure important content comes first, regardless of the type of device you use to view the site.

There are two things you can do to make your site mobile-friendly:

Switch your theme to a responsive theme. Here’s a search on the Theme Showcase returning all our responsive themes to help you choose.

If you’d prefer not to switch to a responsive theme, you can enable an option that will show a mobile-friendly, responsive theme to your mobile visitors only. Go to My Site(s) → WP Admin → Appearance → Mobile in your dashboard. Click on the Yes radio button to enable a mobile-friendly theme, and click on the Update button. You’re set.

Some questions that will lead to interesting discussions and will help tell you more about the programmer. (And would anyone like to answer!)

What programming languages do you use besides Java? How do they influence your Java programming? When do you choose to use Java?

What are some complex systems you have built in Java? How does the Java code follow from the requirements? Could you explain them in terms of simpler systems, or in terms of frameworks and libraries they use?

What is the most interesting standard Java API class, interface, or package? How does it work? How have you used it?

What is Object-Oriented Programming? How does Java fulfil the requirements of OOP? Do you strictly follow the principles of Java OOP programming, or do you adjust it to your needs?

How does the JVM work? How does the JVM work with bytecode, with memory allocation, and garbage collection?

I have met a guy who built his own drone for about $400. It is possible to buy an assembled drone costing from $55.00 to more than $2,000. There are many DIY drone kits with almost the same price range as the assembled drones. A Google search for build your own drone returned About 4,910,000 results (0.44 seconds). This is going to be a lot of fun until ‘they’ start passing laws about it.

When I was a kid, in the last millennium, we spent hours building a balsa wood model plane with a ‘049’ gasoline engine and flew it in circles held by hand with a string. You go with what ya’ got and call it fun!

Written by Lance Ulanoff is Chief Correspondent and Editor-at-Large of Mashable.

Gazing straight up into a partially cloudy sky, I could just make out the Parrot Bebop drone buzzing overhead. I looked down at the formidable Skycontroller and attached iPad Air 2 in my hands where I could see the drone’s magnificent view. I could make out water towers in the distance. They were easily two towns away.

This looked and felt like pro-level drone flying though at $899 for the package, I guess I shouldn’t have expected any less.

A follow-up to Parrot’s entry-level AR.Drone 2.0, the Bebop drone is a quadrocopter with serious speed, impressive camera capabilities and, with the Skycontroller option, a remarkable level of control.

I flew Bebop both indoors and out and, once I learned how to fly, I didn’t want to stop.

There are two options for flying Bebop. You can make what’s known as a direct ad-hoc Wi-Fi connection to a smartphone or tablet running Parrot’s Freeflight 3 software. As soon as you turn on the drone, it becomes a Wi-Fi beacon that my iPad Air 2 easily found.

If you plan on using the Skycontroller — as I did — you don’t have to connect to the drone. Instead, each Bebop is pre-paired with its Skycontroller, which, like the drone, is a Wi-Fi hub. Once the tablet is paired with it, the Skycontroller takes care of the rest.

You can fly the Bebop drone without a tablet (the Skycontroller is actually an Android-based device with built-in Freeflight software), but then you won’t see what the drone is capturing on its powerful camera.

If you do use a tablet as your viewfinder, it sits in an adjustable holder, right between the two joysticks and just below the giant antenna. You can tighten up the tablet holder so it feels secure. My iPad Air 2 never slid around or dropped out of it.

To a certain extent, the Skycontroller is just a hardware recreation of the Freeflight software. It has two aluminum joysticks for controlling direction, attitude, pitch, yaw and speed. It adds hardware buttons for many of the soft controls, like “Return Home” and “Take a picture.” But it also adds significantly to the Bebop drone’s range. Without the Skycontroller, your drone can fly 800 feet or so. With it, the range increases to more than a mile (or 2 kilometers).

The Skycontroller also includes two radio frequency settings: 2.4GHz and 5GHz, with the latter offering more precise control over the drone. For the purposes of my test flights, I used the 2.4GHz setting, but I also never let the drone fly beyond my line of sight. Yes, I love testing gadgets, but don’t really want to get arrested for using them.

The drone comes with foam bumpers that you can attach and use when flying indoors. They protect walls and people from getting caught in the high-speed copter blades, which also include a safety feature that stops them from spinning the instant they detect any resistance. That came in handy when I occasionally crashed the Bebop drone into walls, chairs, trees and bushes (what can I say — it took me a little while to master flying the drone).

Built from plastic, aluminum and foam, the drone is surprisingly robust. It took numerous hits and kept on flying. One time I hit the emergency button on the Skycontroller and the drone’s motors stopped, making it drop out of the sky. The 20-foot drop left it scuffed, but otherwise undamaged. The Bebop drone/Skycontroller bundle does ship with a full set of replacement propellers, which are easy to remove and replace.

Always watching and in control

Parrot equipped the Bebop with an impressive 14-megapixel 180-degree camera that is always recording 1080p video directly to the drone’s s 8GB of onboard storage. You’ll get an onscreen message when it runs out of space. You can offload the videos by connecting the drone to a computer (it has a built-in microUSB port). The only downside here is the Bebop has to be on if you want to download the videos.

That camera, by the way, is kept on a digital, three-axis gimbal, which keeps the video perfectly stable during even the roughest of flights. Normally, I would prefer optical image stabilization, but this digital version is so good, you might mistake it for optical. Video quality on a bright, sunny day was impressive, though I wish Parrot had included better high-dynamic range capabilities: The drone had trouble keeping the foreground decently exposed when pointed toward sunlight.

I can’t say enough about the precision control available with the Skycontroller. With it, the drone could turn on a dime. It could also fly at almost 30 miles per hour, which made for some pretty dramatic shots. Yes, strong winds could blow Bebop off course, but it was easy to use the Skycontroller to get it back on track and take it where I wanted to go.

Bebop is more than just a remote control flying device; it’s a robot. If you’re not controlling it with a tablet or the Skycontroller, it will simply hover in the air, awaiting your command. It does so thanks to the sensors inside that include a barometric pressure sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope and magnetometer — and it has a low-res camera in its belly for smooth landings. There’s also built-in GPS so the drone knows where it is, even if you can’t see it.

Without all these sensors, I’m certain I could not have flown the Bebop drone as well as I did.

Caveats

I loved flying the Bebop with the Skycontroller, but the RC is a bit of a beast. Parrot acknowledges as much by including a neck strap for the controller. I didn’t bother with it, though. With just 11 minutes of fly time per charge, it’s unlikely you’ll experience too much arm fatigue.

Yes, you heard me right: Just 11 minutes of fly time per charge and it takes the batteries an hour to charge.

Just 11 minutes of fly time per charge and it takes the batteries an hour to charge. The $899 kit ships with three batteries, so if you have everything charged up and put one battery in the controller, you’ll have more than 20 minutes of fly time.

The bad news is that the Parrot batteries were flakey. One refused to charge up and the others would only charge 80% of the time. At other times, I put them into the charger and it would just blink red. A continuous red was what I was looking for; solid green meant fully charged. Parrot told me they have not seen similar issues or received complaints about the batteries. However, I had no trouble finding people discussing the exact same issue on Parrot’s Bebop discussion boards.

It’s also worth noting that for as rugged as the Bebop is, I did see a couple of minor build-quality issues on the drone and the controller. On the controller, the power button immediately popped off. I put it back in place and then a few days later, it popped off again. It’s back in place… for now.

Also, the power button on the drone got jammed. I was able to reseat it with a thin screwdriver, but this was not encouraging.

Can’t keep a good drone down

To be fair, these are complex products and these may simply be earmarks of V1 hardware. Neither build issue stopped me from my overall enjoyment of the product.

Is the Bebop and Skycontroller package pricey? Yes, but for under $900, you are getting a pro-level drone with the ability to capture cinematic video. If you learn how to use the GPS, you can program in a pretty impressive overhead tracking shot that then moves down to ground level. The shots are so steady that people will assume you used a giant rig and Steadicam to capture them.

The product is just that good.

Parrot’s Bebop drone offers an impressive level of depth and control, which, to be frank, we can’t fit inside this review. It can preload maps if your control tablet lacks cellular connectivity to show you where the drone is even when you can’t see it. It can return to a preset home position with the touch of a button. You can shoot timelapse video in-flight and even hook up the Skycontroller to a pair of virtual reality goggles for a more immersive drone flight experience.

If you have a creative bent, the sky is literally the limit with the Parrot Bebop and Skycontroller.

Parrot Bebop Drone and Skycontroller

The Good

Smart • Powerful • Fast and responsive • Great camera • Addictive

The Bad

There’s a learning curve • Battery issues • Limited fly time

The Bottom Line

If you want pro-level drone flying but do not want to spend thousands of dollars, Bebop and the Skycontroller is the drone package you’ve been looking for.

For more information see:

I know everything on this very sparse post is copied directly from the web. There is so much negativity “Out There” I wanted to get this great positive information out. Despite what the daily news publishes each day, there are good things happening. Just have to look a little harder.